Golden Core Seed

Jiang Ding looked admiringly at the valiant woman as she went up to collect her exam paper.

A single qualitative transformation of spiritual sense seemed to have increased her score by nearly a hundred points, less than his two hundred-plus—but those were a hundred points from 1,200 to 1,300!

The farther one went, the closer one came to the full-score limit of 1,400, the more difficult it became.

Even a single point could lead to vastly different outcomes.

Wu Tianli, ranked second, changed expression as he watched the girl pass by him. In a daze, he saw a goddess drifting away amid curling golden light, leaving the mortal world behind.

Though Hua Bing had rejected his pursuit many times, he had remained full of confidence. He was the finest man in this group, after all, and he firmly believed that one day he would win the beauty's hand and live happily ever after like the prince and princess in a fairy tale.

Now, however, his heart was filled with bewilderment.

"Alright, alright."

Only after a full five or six minutes of chaos did Guo Kui smile and restore order to the class.

"Everyone has improved this time. It seems none of you have slacked off over the past two months, especially Hua Bing, who is in the Qi Refining Realm, and Jiang Ding, Li Junhao, and the others in the Inner Qi Realm."

"But as I always say, this is only an in-school midterm test. How much it differs from the actual college entrance examination remains unknown, so you must not grow proud and complacent."

"Now, open your exam papers. First question..."

Guo Kui explained at length, laying out the meaning of the questions, the kinds of answers the Immortal Sect wanted to receive, and, more importantly, subtly guiding the students toward the outlook on life and values the Immortal Sect expected of them.

This was not some vague, intangible matter.

The Moral Character portion of the college entrance examination would take place at the Heart-Questioning Platform within the Illusory Realm—Education Network Zone. Faced with the exam paper, every candidate would unconsciously give the truest answers from the bottom of their heart to each question. Memorizing answers in daily life was completely useless.

Ring, ring!

Two hours later, the dismissal bell rang. Guo Kui left, and Hua Bing stepped onto the platform, casually swiping her card against the cabinet behind her.

"The final two classes this morning are Teacher Zhang Dingjun's cultivation lessons. Everyone, change into your combat gear."

"Yes, Class Leader!"

Starting from the first row, the students lined up to collect and change into their camouflage combat uniforms and panoramic helmets resembling dark glass spheres.

"Sun Xiao, First Squad, move out."

"Yes!"

Sun Xiao saluted the temporary commander appointed by Zhang Dingjun, then led five people forward at a jog.

"Second Squad... Third Squad..."

The three columns of squads assembled outside the classroom, forming a neat square formation. Keeping to a fixed rhythm, they jogged toward the training grounds behind the school, tens of kilometers away, occasionally passing others traveling in the same direction.

Li Junhao moved a little closer. Having been sullen for a long time, he whispered, "Jiang Ding, can breaking through to the Inner Qi Realm really raise your academic scores by that much?"

He had only just been pleased with his own progress, yet Jiang Ding had suddenly charged into the top ten, practically guaranteed admission to Spirit Veil University's Cultivation Department.

They had both been brothers in hardship. So how had Jiang Ding flown off on his own?

It had crushed him into silence.

"It can."

Jiang Ding confirmed, "With internal force as a tangible form of energy, it greatly helps with studying, comprehending, and improving in cultivation method principles, talismans, formations, and so on. I think it will be the same once you break through to the Inner Qi Realm."

This was not consolation.

Li Junhao's learning ability was exceptionally strong. Without internal force, spiritual power, or spiritual sense, he could carve out Five Elements Formations such as the Sharp Gold Formation, Thick Earth Formation, and Water Condensing Array through calculation alone—and they would take effect once internal force or spiritual power was input.

The same was true for subjects like Language Arts, geography, and biology. He was a top student whose academic score surpassed those of the ordinary departments at TOP2 by a great deal.

"The Inner Qi Realm..."

Li Junhao sighed.

At the training grounds, Zhang Dingjun stood rooted in place like a nail, a pocket watch in his hand. Before him, the Qi Refining Realm squad led by Hua Bing had already arrived and stood in neat formation.

After waiting for some time, the Inner Qi Realm squad joined the ranks.

Zhang Dingjun did not move. He merely stared at his pocket watch, his expression cold and hard.

Five or six minutes later, Li Junhao finally arrived late and quickly slipped into the silent formation.

Many people showed surprise.

This was the first time Li Junhao had arrived at the training grounds on time, though Class One's arrival time was already ten minutes later than that of the other classes.

After signaling for Hua Bing to lead the Qi Refining Realm squad to their own tank training grounds, Zhang Dingjun looked at the remaining eighteen students.

"The first class will proceed as usual with Heavy Machine Gun training. The second class will be tank support combat training."

"Dismissed for free activity!"

"Yes, Instructor!"

The students dispersed in twos and threes, but Zhang Dingjun called Jiang Ding over. At the weapon rack, amid the hulking, ferocious Heavy Machine Guns, he found the relatively slender Type 03 Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle. Lines of runic patterns were clearly visible along its barrel.

"This thing costs a lot more."

Zhang Dingjun muttered, placing the gun in Jiang Ding's hands and having him assume a standard firing stance. He then corrected him point by point, explaining the similarities and differences between Heavy Machine Guns and anti-materiel sniper rifles.

"The core principles are the same. You just need to be proficient with the Vajra Seal. You've done fairly well on that front."

He went through the motions of standing fire, prone fire, and the like.

"Now, clutch the grip tightly and input internal force. Remember, keep the frequency and intensity as consistent as possible."

Jiang Ding did as instructed.

Internal force slowly flowed into it, only to be swallowed bit by bit as though it were a bottomless abyss.

Three minutes later, Jiang Ding had exhausted his internal force, yet still received no indication that there was enough.

"Rest for a bit."

Zhang Dingjun said nothing else. "Generally speaking, you need to complete at least one Minor Heavenly Cycle of inner qi to charge a bullet within ten minutes. You should be able to do it within thirty minutes, right?"

He waved a hand and went to correct the mistakes the other students were making with the heavy machine gun, paying particular attention to explaining the cultivation of the Vajra Seal martial technique.

Twenty-seven or twenty-eight minutes later.

With a face deathly pale, Jiang Ding looked at the barrel, where an almost imperceptible light point flickered. He let out a long breath, lay prone, raised the bipod, aimed at the fixed target five kilometers away, and silently recited the Vajra Seal incantation.

BOOM!

A thunderous blast rang out. It felt as though his shoulder had been struck by a heavy hammer, and he was forced backward several meters before crashing down. Pain flared through his shoulder as if it had broken, and he curled into a ball.

As for the bullet, who knew where it had gone.

Sun Xiao and the others were drawn over by the blast. They immediately understood and revealed looks of gloating.

"This is reconnaissance infantry."

Zhang Dingjun had appeared behind him at some point. Said indifferently, "Ghosts of the battlefield. Their killing power is extremely strong, but they come with many restrictions: long charging times, demanding requirements for the Vajra Seal, as well as requirements for the Minor Breath Concealment Technique and one's internal force realm. Otherwise, that loud blast on a battlefield would mean death."

"To use it normally, you need at least Inner Qi Great Accomplishment—and that is with Eaglet Inner Qi. With other internal cultivation methods, whose internal force is mixed and impure, you would need completion."

His words were somewhat tactful. Knowing that young people had strong pride and cared about their dignity, he had deliberately waited until after Jiang Ding had suffered a setback before trying to persuade him.

"Teacher, I understand."

Once the pain had eased, Jiang Ding stood up, dusted himself off, and held the sniper rifle in his arms as if nothing had happened. "Teacher, there are some things I don't understand about the Minor Breath Concealment Technique, specifically 1, ... 2..."

"Oh, it's like this..."

Zhang Dingjun no longer tried to dissuade him and carefully explained the difficulties to him.